Pitt hasn’t won back-to-back games since it was ranked No. 24 back in early January. The Panthers have a chance for a winning streak if they can beat Syracuse on Saturday. The Orange have reversed their fortunes by going 8-2 since opening league play with four straight defeats.
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HOW THE PITT PANTHERS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
If the Panthers truly want to make a push towards the NCAA tournament, they’ll have play scrappy basketball – become smarter from the start of games and the turnovers will go down while the smarter decisions go up.
The real reason this team is even floating around in the NCAA tournament discussion is because of three conference wins, which all appear pretty strong. The Panthers handed Notre Dame its only home loss of the season, defeated Florida State on the road and knocked off Syracuse in the team’s earlier meeting.
Pitt was sloppy last time out, yet still came away with a crucial home victory over Wake Forest. If the Panthers shoot 39.8 percent and miss 16 three-pointers, they’re in trouble against a decent Orange club.
The Panthers have proven to be a much better shooting team during the course of the season, knocking down shots 46.4 percent of the time. They also beat Syracuse earlier, 72-61, with a balanced effort that saw nine of the 10 who played score. Another mixture of scoring will keep the Orange honest on defense.
HOW THE SYRACUSE ORANGE CAN COVER THE SPREAD
Syracuse was cooled off a bit with Wednesday’s loss at Louisville. Still, the Orange is a pretty hot club with eight wins in their past 10 games. With six league losses, the Orange need wins to advance up the ACC standings and a shot at earning a double-bye in the first round of the ACC tournament if it can creep into one of the top-four spots.
The development of Frank Howard has given Syracuse a top-notch point guard to combat some of the stronger defenses in the ACC. He finished with six assists Wednesday night when the Orange shot just 38 percent, and had one turnover against the nation’s No. 3 team in adjusted defense.
As it is now, opposing teams can play off Howard knowing he’s not a shooting or scoring threat. While he’s handled defensive pressure well, coach Jim Boeheim wants Howard to shoot the basketball more and become more of a scoring option.
The continued development of freshmen Tyler Lydon and Malachi Richardson is also important for the Orange. The two showed their youth against Louisville, struggling to knock down shots against a harassing defense. They should learn from that experience and be better players for it.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
Syracuse made some noise recently in the ACC standings by winning five straight before falling at Louisville on Wednesday. The Orange looked good in the run with Michal Gbinije rediscovering his shooting touch, Trevor Cooney playing solidly down low, and the freshman tandem of Richardson and Lydon providing youthful energy. But we saw how it all could go wrong in the Louisville loss. The Orange broke the vaunted press, but couldn’t drop down shots against Louisville’s zone defense. Pitt plays solidly on the defensive side of the ball, but nothing like the chaos Cuse saw from the Cardinals. Playing at the Carrier Dome is also a plus for the Orange, who just swept a four-game homestand and have won five straight. The Orange lost at Pitt in the conference opener, part of an opening four-game losing streak. Since then Syracuse is 8-2 SU and 7-3 ATS.
Syracuse 71, Pitt 65
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